Mostly Apolitical Thread for Discussing/Venting our Rational/Irrational COVID-19 Fears and Experiences in 2020

WATCH: “That was in no way a threat.” 🙄

Rod Lunn, the childless man who threatened a dad at the WILCO board meeting, attempts to defend his actions 🤐 says the dad almost hit a kid 🤥 and claims he’s received “powder” in the mail👌🏻

FULL WSMV STORY: https://t.co/E28ctj695r pic.twitter.com/KMyCBq37nn

— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) August 20, 2021

that was just his monthly coke shipment

the thing that drives me nuts about this booster thing is again, Walensky's messaging. she believes the booster might make people less likely to transmit the virus if they get infected. epidemiologists are tut-tutting and saying "does...does the data actually show that?".

but I got the impression boosters were more to ensure protection against severe disease doesn't wane, and possibly to prevent some symptomatic transmission, and I feel like her messaging is going to make people think after they get a third shot, they're invincible again.

Misread that as "invisible" and thought I had another awesome super power to look forward to.

they will be compared to the millions and millions of people who haven’t even had their first shot yet!

i know a lot of you guys are bored of this but crossing borders is going to be unbelievably difficult until the world gets more vaccinated, but EVEN SO spreading events are going to keep happening until the world gets more vaccinated so maybe we should think about a better way to, like, get the world more vaccinated instead of boosting the already pretty great immunity of the wealthiest people on earth

that is the general gist of the booster naysayers. and honestly the booster supporters don't seem to be doing as good a job making their case right now. only about 30% of the globe is vaxxed, but even THAT stat is misleading because the biggest countries/continents are the majority of that 30%. lots of countries in single digits.

people are already pretending to be immunocompromised and getting thirds.

I only got my third cos of how long ago I had my second and being in a house with olds (sorry mom and dad but u are), and being elderly, I see a case for them getting a third, but idk that my middle-aged non-immunocomp friends are necessarily going to need them.

This might be a weird personal thing, but I really, really like wearing a mask when I go to Target or the supermarket or gas station etc.

Feels really liberating in some way to be anonymous

I have a black KN95 and it makes me look like Bane so I like it too.

a few times the cashier screamed and opened the register and ran away.

made 10k this week

I was complimented on my mask (which has a big Baphomet pentagram on it) by a teenaged grocery clerk the other week. And some other dude said "Hail Satan" to me at the bagel shop.

I like wearing a mask. I hate wearing my mask for prolonged periods of time.

My first cloth mask (sigh ...) had sugar skulls on it, and that used to get a lot of compliments. The other day I told my kids I was surprised that there have been no trendy masks, and they looked at me like I was stupid (I mean ... ) before telling me the brand and material and colors that carry the most cachet.

Not a lot new to add but yes I also vote to normalize wearing masks, I'm fine with it. A very slight inconvenience for most of us who go in and out of places. I don't give a fuck what anyone thinks of it except for people who work in, for ex, service jobs and have to wear a mask for a whole shift/many hours.

Jesus christ why do people pretend it's so impossible to do a small thing to take care of each other? Fuck.

I have no issue with wearing a mask when I run into a store to get groceries or coffee or whatever. I have a problem with expecting kids to wear them in school forever. I also think it would become a problem in the office, in meetings, in court, in depositions, etc. I already as it is find it harder to understand people on a daily basis, and facial expressions actually do matter to human interaction. I find it frustrating that people act like we can simply give up on having facial expression as part of our interaction forever.

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/VigorousResponsibleLark-max-1mb.gif

what is this 'forever' thing

https://pictures.abebooks.com/isbn/9780881031836-us.jpg

In response to Laurel saying "normalize masks"

And if not forever, then until what?

Caek already addressed the pretend fatalism when he said, until certain metrics are met. It's in the fold somewhere, I'm not loading 12,523 posts.

The question is not really "how long should people wear masks indoors," because indeed wearing a mask is pretty easy for most people, it's "how long should K-12 schools be held online," which is not pretty easy for most people.

It seems to me that in-person K-12 schooling is going to cause spread of COVID-19 among children, and presumably then from children to others, *whether children and teachers wear masks or not*. Masks slow spread to some extent. Much less than vaccines do, surely. They do not make you COVID-proof.

It also doesn't seem clear to me how big of a *difference* in-person schooling makes to spread of COVID-19 when people are in general no longer working at home, restaurants and bars are open, etc.

I got depressed falling into a Twitter rabbit hole of people nominally on the left who see the push to vaccinate as part of (and the most successful part of) some kind of techno-takeover of our bodies which also includes baby formula and the general high prestige of "data" as opposed to "natural knowledge" and via this route also includes social media generally -- I feel like in five years all these people will be home-birthing Republicans who see Josh Hawley as their last bulwark against the number-slinging elite

I got depressed falling into a Twitter rabbit hole of people nominally on the left who see the push to vaccinate as part of (and the most successful part of) some kind of techno-takeover of our bodies which also includes baby formula and the general high prestige of "data" as opposed to "natural knowledge" and via this route also includes social media generally -- I feel like in five years all these people will be home-birthing Republicans who see Josh Hawley as their last bulwark against the number-slinging elite

oops sorry, I only fell into the rabbit hole once

I'm seeing that Pfizer is expected to have an EUA for under-12s by end of September? It's not like this is a far distant event, things are extremely in flux and progressing all the time. It's disingenuous to act like we can't do simple things temporarily until transmission rates are lower/the world is safer than it is now.

I don't give a fuck what anyone thinks of it except for people who work in, for ex, service jobs and have to wear a mask for a whole shift/many hours.

Sorry, eephus--about the "wellness" weirdos, idk what to say. It's like when the NYT interviews someone who claims to be an "undecided" voter but whose views are all conservative/libertarian--they were never undecided or "independent" at all.

Mask-related question: Last year when PPE was scarce, I was seeing a lot of info about how to safely dispose of, remove, store, and re-sterilize masks. Haven't seen anything about that in a while. Are ppl just stuffing them in a pocket when you come out of a store? Throwing on the hall table? Washing?

I might order another pack of KN95s tbh. They're so comfortable, don't touch my face, and don't slip off my nose.

of all of the inconveniences and agonies of COVID-19, wearing a mask is so far down on the list it doesn't even scan

KF 94s are good too.

Until I got fully jabbed I double masked from January to mid April: surgical mask with cloth mask atop. I started double masking again if I'm going to be in public indoor spaces for more than 15 minutes -- for example, the library at which I'm typing this post.

I throw the surgical mask out once a week and wash the cloth ones every few days.

Nate Silver, I think, posed this chart:

https://i.imgur.com/fNaiguo.png

*posted

xxp re KF94s: Oh right! Those ones with the folds above and below. Good to know, thanks!

The question is not really "how long should people wear masks indoors," because indeed wearing a mask is pretty easy for most people, it's "how long should K-12 schools be held online," which is not pretty easy for most people.

It seems to me that in-person K-12 schooling is going to cause spread of COVID-19 among children, and presumably then from children to others, *whether children and teachers wear masks or not*. Masks slow spread to some extent. Much less than vaccines do, surely. They do not make you COVID-proof.

It also doesn't seem clear to me how big of a *difference* in-person schooling makes to spread of COVID-19 when people are in general no longer working at home, restaurants and bars are open, etc.

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Friday, August 20, 2021 9:11 AM (fifteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

My kids' school already is in person, as are many around the country. It started in person in April last year, and it's slated to reopen in person. Agree masks don't make them COVID-proof, and I'm assuming unlike last year there may actually be some in-school spread this year, even in my highly vaccinated town.

I *think* the current recommendation remains to wash cloth masks after prolonged use (I don't wash mine after, like, five minutes or whatever), and then for most effective disinfecting, dry on hot, though we usually air dry. I've seen some guidance to dispose of masks after 10 uses or so, but I don't know if that means *all* masks or even why. Maybe they get too beaten up and loose? Disposable masks should be, yeah disposed of, though I don't know how long a wear requires that. Importantly, all masks lose effectiveness when damp or wet (from rain, sweat, slobber, etc.), and as I've had to remind my kids almost daily, after you're done with your disposable mask, don't forget to *dispose* of it, because a cootie catcher on the floor or in the car is still full of cooties.

I've heard doctors and medical professionals recommend *against* N95s, but I think that's because for a lot of people the risk of wearing an ill-fitted mask outweighs the benefits.

I thought schools across the US are generally going back to in-person this fall regardless of whether they were previously remote?

Yes, they are. And a lot of people aren't happy about it and think they should wait.

Not related to COVID but re the graphic above, I am once again asking people to fuck off with the idea that the "elites" are people with college degrees as opposed to people with money and power

I think what I'm trying to say is that "schools should mandate masks for now" makes total sense but "in-person schools with mask mandates are fine but in-person schools without mask mandates are a recipe for disaster" does not make sense, the two things are different and the former is better but I don't think the two things are *that* different.

I thought schools across the US are generally going back to in-person this fall regardless of whether they were previously remote?

― Captain Beefart (PBKR), Friday, August 20, 2021 10:45 AM bookmarkflaglink

ours already have

I don't think anyone's position is that in person schools with masks are perfectly "fine" or risk-free or whatever that's pretended to mean. I think they're probably the best harm-reduction strategy for students, teachers, and parents, all of whom have reported different kinds of suffering & harm from remote learning. At least until kids can get vaccinated, at which point I can see masking going more voluntary depending on what delta and other variants are doing at that point.

I think they're probably the best harm-reduction strategy for students, teachers, and parents

Agreed!

the thing about masks and their imperfections is that people were touting these imperfections all along when people thought the main way of spreading person-to-person was droplets, which are too small for many masks (surgical/cloth) to protect against.

but now we know COVID is airborne, and aerosols represent the majority of indoor spread, and masks do protect much better against those, especially those releasing them. so it is drastically reducing, if not eliminating risk. and that's important.

I have seen no evidence that masking does anything you could call "drastically reducing" risk of COVID. And droplets are bigger than aerosol particles, not smaller. Masks, esp. KN95 and up, almost surely reduce transmission to some extent, and they're easy and cheap -- that's why they're so good.

ps fwiw my two kids, one vaccinated and one two young, will both be attending in-person mask-mandated (but not KN95-mask-mandated) schools this fall.

all these posts and i still don't know what your point is man alive other than "just asking questions"

are we arguing "drastically reducing risk" vs "almost surely reduce transmission to some extent"?

I am, at least, because those are pretty different!

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/372/6549/1439

Re: masks, I find at the very least they're a deterrent against touching your face and an innate reminder of the risks around us, so even if they did nothing they'd be doing something.

Where do you guys get your KN 95 masks? I look on Amazon and there’s lots of ones from China.

Masks are a deterrent against lots of things:

• touching your face
• talking too much or too loudly in public
• talking to assholes (you can tell they're assholes because they're not wearing masks)